In 1952, the Discipline of Chemistry of Jilin University was founded by Prof. TSAI Liusheng (academician), Prof. TANG Auchin (academician), Prof. KUAN Shizhi, and Prof. TAO Weisun and many other prestigious chemists. Developed in the spirit of collaboration and innovation, the discipline of Chemistry is now internationally renowned for its excellence and innovation in both fundamental research and student education.
Chemistry at Jilin University is one of the top National Key Disciplines authorized by the Ministry of Education of China. It ranked 4th nationally in 2012, winning the award of an A-Level discipline, and was selected as a "Double First-Class" discipline in 2017. It also internationally ranked 27th in November 2020 by ESI and in top 1‰ by Clarivate Analytics.
The College of Chemistry has established 14 national and Ministry of Education (or equal level) Key Laboratories and teaching centers, including “State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry”, “State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials”, and “National and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Synthesis Technology of High Performance Polymers”.
The College of Chemistry boasts outstanding faculty exemplified by 39 professors with national titles, and 5 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences:
· Prof. XU Ruren (Academician of TWAS),
· Prof. SHEN Jiaxiang (a pioneer of Chinese supramolecular chemistry),
· Prof. FENG Shouhua (Chairman of the International Solvothermal & Hydrothermal Association),
· Prof. ZHANG Xi (President of Jilin University),
· Prof. YU Jihong (Academician of TWAS; Foreign Member of Academia Europaea; 2017 IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering; Executive Editor of JACS).
In addition, 7 adjunct academicians, including
· Prof. YAM Vivian Wing-Wah (the University of Hong Kong),
· Prof. JIANG Lei (Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences),
· Prof. ZHOU Qifeng (Peking University),
· Prof. ZHANG Hongjie (Tsinghua University),
· Prof. WANG Erkang, Prof. DONG Shaojun, and Prof. CHEN Xuesi (all from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of Chinese Academy of Sciences)
are formally associated with the College of Chemistry.
The College has also appointed internationally renowned scientists, such as
· Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn (the University of Strasbourg, France, Nobel Laureate, 1986),
· Prof. Ian Manners (the University of Victoria, Canada),
· Prof. Eric Garfunkel (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, USA),
· Prof. Avelino Corma (Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain)
as honorary professors. These distinguished scientists have greatly promoted and contributed to the development of the College of Chemistry.
The College of Chemistry places a strong emphasis on high impact education to prepare our graduates for current and future chemistry challenges. It has established a high-level comprehensive talent cultivation system for both undergraduate and graduate education. Every year, over 200 undergraduate and more than 100 Ph.D. students graduate from the College of Chemistry. In the past five years, approximately 600 students participated in international exchange activities for intercultural exchange and study through joint degrees, exchange programs, and overseas internships, amongst others.
Many graduates from the College become leaders in both academia and industry. Outstanding alumni are represented by 12 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering as well as many others in domestic and international universities, including:
Prof. CHI Lifeng (Soochow University, foreign member of Academia Europaea; 2017 IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering; ACS Nano Leadership Award),
Prof. PENG Xiaogang (Zhejiang University, well-known in nanomaterials),
Prof. LU Yunfeng (the University of California, Los Angeles, well-known in nanomaterials),
Prof. LI Hongbin (the University of British Columbia, well-known in molecular nanoscience and protein engineering).
The College of Chemistry pursues both basic cutting-edge research and applied science and technology. It has created insights and impactful innovation in the fields of quantum chemistry, statistical theory of macromolecules, directional synthesis and molecular engineering of microporous crystals, hydrothermal synthesis of inorganic functional materials, supramolecular structure and materials, and high temperature special engineering plastics.
Prof. YU Jihong’s group conducted an in-depth study into the mechanism of hydroxyl radical accelerated hydrothermal crystallization of zeolites, which introduced a new understanding of the mechanism underlying zeolite formation (Science, 2016, 351, 1188-1191). Prof. LI Feng’s group proposed a new electroluminescent principle for OLED operation, which has opened up new research directions and opportunities for OLEDs (Nature, 2018, 563, 536-540). The High Performance Polymer Laboratory has devoted significant effort to the development of new processes for the production of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyethersulfone (PES). One of their patents was transferred to Degussa AG of Dusseldorf, Germany in a deal worth approximately 320 million RMB. Prof. LU Zhongyuan and colleagues developed GALAMOST (a GPU accelerated large-scale molecular simulation toolkit) that uses GPU computing to perform molecular dynamics with a special focus on polymeric systems at mesoscopic scales. It is the only Chinese-developed software among 27 molecular dynamics programmes in the application catalogue of the NVIDIA official website and 82 materials simulation codes in SklogWiki. Currently, GALAMOST has been used in more than 100 papers, published in Science, Sci. Adv., Nat. Commun., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., amongst others.
The College of Chemistry has been awarded 2 first prizes and 8 second prizes in National Natural Science Awards, 1 second prize in State Technological Invention Awards, 1 first prize, and 5 second prizes in National Teaching Achievement Awards.
The College of Chemistry has been building an international collaborative network with prominent research institutions based on mutual interest and expertise to solve global challenges. It has founded 3 Innovation and Intelligence Introduction Projects (111 Project), 2 International Joint Research Centers authorized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and 1 Joint Laboratory for International Cooperation authorized by the Ministry of Education. Led by Prof. YU Jihong, the International Center of Future Science (established in 2016) is already serving as an international collaboration network center for idea exchange and cooperation.
The College of Chemistry has built close research and talent-cultivation partnerships with world-renowned research institutions such as the University of Strasbourg (France), Universitat Politècnica de València, (Spain), University of Michigan (USA), University of Bristol (UK), University of Queensland (Australia), University of Sheffield (UK), University of Groningen (Netherlands), Macquarie University (Australia), Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (Germany), University of Waterloo (Canada), Nagoya University (Japan), and Korea University (Korea).
Based on the historic perspective, the solid foundation, and achievements of the College of Chemistry presented in this overview, the ambition for 2025 and beyond can be summarized as follow. For the College of Chemistry to be internationally known as:
· a world-renowned scientific research centre for new material creation and transformation to address global challenges,
· a talent-cultivation centre with a steady stream of world-class graduates at all levels of education (with a focus on innovative thinking and practical ability), and
· an international collaborative and academic exchange centre striving to be at the forefront of world-class chemistry.
In order to reach these ambitious goals, the College aims to cultivate and introduce a number of top young scientists and innovative teams through a strategic programme of targeted appointments in the key areas of global growth and national strategy: health, energy, and information, so as to achieve scientific innovation and breakthroughs in addressing key global challenges and promote economic and social development.
Carrying forward the motto of "Dedication, Innovation, Truth-Seeking, and Collaboration" the College of Chemistry is growing into an internationally influential academic base for scientific research and talent cultivation.
Dean Prof. Lu Zhongyuan
